The Trump administration sued Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows yesterday over her refusal to hand out covert license plates to federal immigration agents, a policy she enacted to keep Maine resources from being used for what she called “lawless purposes.” The U.S. Justice Department filed an 18-page complaint Wednesday in federal court, accusing Maine…
Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey and a coalition of 21 Democratic attorneys general are suing the Trump administration over new restrictions on federally funded programs serving immigrants in the U.S. without legal status. These programs include the Head Start preschool program, health clinics, and adult education. In Maine, approximately 3,000 kids are enrolled in Head…
This week on the podcast, Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey breaks down how his office is standing up to President Donald Trump’s executive orders, holding Big Tech and Big Oil accountable, and defending immigrant and LGBTQ+ rights. With an 80% success rate in federal legal challenges, Frey shares why the rule of law still matters…
About 30 people, including leaders from Maine’s immigrant community, met with Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey and Rep. Mana Abdi (D-Lewiston) last week, to discuss their fears about President-elect Donald Trump’s recent threats of “mass deportations” of immigrants and how Maine’s government plans to respond. Rep. Abdi organized the event in partnership with Maine People’s…
Democratic attorneys general from 23 states, including Maine, and the District of Columbia weighed in with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday supporting access to the abortion medication mifepristone. “The availability of mifepristone has been particularly critical in providing access to abortion in low-income, underserved, and rural communities where a nonmedication abortion procedure…
Corporate consolidation is suppressing wages, breaking supply chains and driving inflation. The result of unchecked monopolies is a more fragile economy and a less democratic society. This was the key takeaway presented by Portland resident Stacy Mitchell at the 2023 Policy Insights Conference, a virtual forum hosted by the Maine Center for Economic Policy on…
Attorneys general from 21 Democratic-leaning states are calling on a Texas judge to keep the abortion pill on the market, rejecting claims anti-abortion medical groups made in a lawsuit that’s centered on the medication’s approval more than two decades ago. The latest brief in the case, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug…
On the podcast this week, Cate, Esther and Mike discuss the voting down of Governor Mills’ plan for emergency heating and housing assistance by Republicans in the state senate and what that will mean for Mainers this winter. They also discuss the election of Maine’s constitutional officers, a new report on the effects of tribal…
A new report from Harvard University finds that the state of Maine’s unique control over the Wabanaki Nations has significantly stifled their economic development. The report indicates that this is largely the result of the restrictions of the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980, which limits the tribes’ ability to exercise self-governance over their…
An outgoing representative who served on the legislature’s Judiciary Committee is taking the state’s criminal justice system to task, issuing a blistering complaint to the federal government and urging Attorney General Merrick Garland to place Maine’s system under review and supervision. Jeffrey Evangelos, an independent from Friendship who did not run for reelection to the…